Joyce L. Arnold: Liberal, lesbian, Independent, equality activist, writer.

The Center for American Progress recently released “Potential Republican Nominees for President and Their Stances on LGBT Equality.” About the same time, in the New York Times, David Campbell and Robert Putnam write “Crashing the Tea Party.” And via Truth Out, Adele Stan posted, “Why the Mainstream Media Are Clueless About the Religious Right.” There are connections between the pieces.

That term, “religious right,” was widely used in the 1980s and 90s. Remember the Christian Coalition? They were very successful in their efforts to run candidates for local and state elections, building a national movement that contributed/s to the GOP’s attention to those whose understanding of “Christian” matches that of movement. And even as its socially conservative agenda is losing support, these believers help push the political center further right. The Democratic Party reveals that as much as the Republican.

From the NY Times Crashing the Tea Party:

Beginning in 2006 we interviewed a representative sample of 3,000 Americans as part of our continuing research into national political attitudes, and we returned to interview many of the same people again this summer. …

… the Tea Party’s supporters today were highly partisan Republicans long before the Tea Party was born … .

… Next to being a Republican, the strongest predictor of being a Tea Party supporter today was a desire, back in 2006, to see religion play a prominent role in politics. … The Tea Party’s generals may say their overriding concern is a smaller government, but not their rank and file, who are more concerned about putting God in government. …

Yet it is precisely this infusion of religion into politics that most Americans increasingly oppose. While over the last five years Americans have become slightly more conservative economically, they have swung even further in opposition to mingling religion and politics. It thus makes sense that the Tea Party ranks alongside the Christian Right in unpopularity.

Even with that increasing opposition, the GOP 2012 wannabe’s are obviously still very concerned with social conservatives. The “Potential Republican Nominees” article includes the positions on various LGBT related issues of what they call the “13 major contenders.” I don’t think most of these are actually “major contenders,” but seeing their positions is still useful. Not surprisingly, Fred Karger – the gay man basically seeking to educate, and good for him – is the only one who unambiguously favors LGBT equality. Some are more careful in the language they use, as they attempt to please both “religious right” and moderate voters.

The third article draws attention to a related factor: how the media reports on the “religious right.” Adele Stan’s assessment is summed up: ”Why the Mainstream Media Are Clueless About the Religious Right”. “Though it has shaped American politics for the last 40 years, the religious right still baffles reporters,” Stan writes, describing the renewed expressions of surprise, by many reporters, at the beliefs that are the same ones mentioned the last election cycle. She also points to the failure to grasp differences in beliefs, or as Stan puts it, “differences (are) blurred.”

To mainstream reporters, Rick Perry’s big prayer rally in Houston earlier this month looked like just another religious-right gathering. To their eyes, what made it unusual was that a sitting governor had used his official gubernatorial letterhead and Web site to promote it.

The greater departure, however, was the way in which the gathering represented a coming together of the New Apostolic Reformation, a far-right charismatic movement … with the old-line organizations of the religious right, such as the American Family Association….

… this enlargement of the religious-right coalition to include elements once deemed ‘fringe’ even by fellow evangelicals is a major story, especially given the 50-state, cell-based ‘prayer networks’ that are part of the NAR infrastructure. …

They are well organized, in other words.

From Right Wing Watch: Meet The Religious Right Extremists Behind The Pro-Bachmann Super PAC.” Seven Mountains Dominionism is not new, but until recently, it’s received little national attention. The Right Wing Watch piece includes a focus on Marc Nuttle, who has

deep ties to an extreme movement within the Religious Right composed of advocates of Seven Mountains Dominionism. Nuttle is in fact Chairman of The Oak Initiative, … dedicated to promoting the Seven Mountains ideology.

The “seven mountains” are the “dominant areas” of cultural influence: government, business, education, arts and entertainment, family services, media, and the church.” There was a Seven Mountains presence included at Perry’s prayer meeting in Houston. The more extreme inclusion would, one would guess, increase the unpopularity. Of course, if the media just lumps all the “Christians” together, the extremes aren’t as noticeable.

Equality Matters has pointed out another indication of main stream media’s use of, and apparent lack of understanding, regarding the increasingly unpopular but still powerful “religious right.” In “MSNBC Turns To Anti-Gay Zealots For Their Thoughts On Rick Perry”, they note that the day after Perry announced his presidential run,

In two separate segments … MSNBC provided prominent anti-gay commentators with an opportunity to share their opinions on Perry’s entrance into the race … When networks like MSNBC fail to identify people like (Family Research Council’s Tony) Perkins and (Pastor Robert) Jeffress as the extremists they really are, they end up affirming the credibility of those who have made careers of demonizing and smearing millions of LGBT Americans.

In general, not just related to LGBTs, the media frequently presents the extreme beliefs as representative of all Christianity.

Commenting on the Times’ “Crashing the Tea Party” piece, digby moves from consideration of Republican Party ties to the Tea Party and to the “religious right” in “Tarnished Tea Cozy”, turning to how the left responds to all of this.

There just isn’t the energy, money or commitment from liberals, many of whom just don’t want to engage on these subjects because they are icky and inconvenient for coalition building. (If my inbox is any guide, there are a whole lot of liberals who think it’s nothing more than silly vanity and selfishness to even think about civil liberties and rights when the plutocrats are destroying our economy.)

Surely we can multi-task. Or does that require both a left and a right wing, actually working together?

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